Historian Carl Adams has written a dramatic true account of Nance’s three trials for freedom, a story which also bolsters Lincoln’s reputation as a long-standing enemy of slavery.
Adams’ book, Nance: Trials of the First Slave Freed by Abraham Lincoln has just been honored with the Illinois State Historical Society Award of Merit for Scholarship and Creativity.
The Cromwell estate sued for payment, and Bailey hired Lincoln to appeal to the Supreme Court in the fall of 1839 to have the contract for Nance void.
The three Nance Supreme Court trials tested, defined and ultimately broke indentured servitude in the state, which knelled the end of slavery in Illinois at a time when it was extremely important in national politics.
Adams: This Lincoln took on the case for Nance’s freedom in 1839, twelve years after Nance’s first appeal and four denials.
